Review Article

Assessment of Cortical Plasticity in Schizophrenia by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Table 1

Cortical excitability in schizophrenia studies using transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Study nameYear of publicationStudy typeSample sizeComments

A transcranial magnetic stimulation study of abnormal cortical inhibition in schizophrenia [15]Fitzgerald, Paul B et al. 2003Case/control
18 SCZ
I-wave facilitation , RMT and
Cortical inhibition in first-degree relatives of schizophrenic patients assessed with transcranial magnetic stimulation [26]Saka, Meram Can et al. 2005Case/control
12 first-degree relatives of SCZ
Three of the 12 healthy relatives lacked transcallosal inhibition (TI)
Evidence for impaired cortical inhibition in schizophrenia using transcranial magnetic stimulation [27]Daskalakis, Zafiris J et al. 2002Case/control
30 SCZ
Cortical inhibition
Cortical excitability in neuroleptic-naive first-episode schizophrenic patients [28]Eichhammer, Peter et al. 2004Case/control
21 SCZ
MT and intracortical inhibition and intracortical
Cortical motor neurophysiology of patients with schizophrenia: a study using transcranial magnetic stimulation [29](Soubasi et al., 2010)Case/control
51 SCZ
RMT=
Stimulus intensity for maximum MEP (SI-max)=
Aberrant middle prefrontal-motor cortex connectivity mediates motor inhibitory biomarker in schizophrenia [30](Du et al., 2019)Case/control
24 SCZ
SICI =
Test stimulation (TS) alone MEP and
Reduced plastic brain responses in schizophrenia: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study [31]Fitzgerald, Paul B et al. 2004Case/control
26 SCZ
Cortical silent period (CSP) and cortical inhibition
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation reveals abnormal plastic response to premotor cortex stimulation in schizophrenia [32]Oxley, Tom et al. 2004Case/control
12 SCZ
CI and
Motor cortical excitability in schizophrenia [33]Pascual-Leone, Alvaro et al. 2002Case/control
14 SCZ
RMT and intracortical inhibition
A transcranial magnetic stimulation study of the effects of olanzapine and risperidone on motor cortical excitability in patients with schizophrenia [34]Fitzgerald, Paul B et al. 2002Case/control
40 SCZ
Silent period and transcallosal inhibition
Impaired inter-hemispheric facilitatory connectivity in schizophrenia [35](Ribolsi et al., 2011)Case/control
16 SCZ medicated, and 9 SCZ unmedicated
RMT and
Interhemispheric facilitation in medicated SCZ
Abnormalities of inhibitory neuronal mechanisms in the motor cortex of patients with schizophrenia [42]Bajbouj, M et al. 2004Case/control
16 SCZ
Postexcitatory inhibition and transcallosal inhibition
Transcallosal inhibition and motor conduction studies in patients with schizophrenia using transcranial magnetic stimulation [43]Boroojerdi, B et al.1999Case/control
10 SCZ
Transcallosal conduction time (TCT) and duration of the inhibition
Prolonged cortical silent period among drug-naive subjects at ultra-high risk of psychosis [44](Tang et al., 2014)Case/control
17 SCZ
SICI=
CSP=
Antipsychotic treatment with quetiapine increases the cortical silent period [45](Frank et al., 2014)Case
Drug-free then drugs after 3 weeks
CSP=
MT, SICI, and intracortical
Effect of antipsychotics on cortical inhibition using transcranial magnetic stimulation [46]Daskalakis, Zafiris J et al. 2003CaseCortical
Effects of antipsychotic medication on electromyographic responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex in schizophrenia [47]Davey, N J et al. 1997Case
(drug naïve) and (medicated) SCZ
MEP and
Disrupted central inhibition after transcranial magnetic stimulation of motor cortex in schizophrenia with long-term antipsychotic treatment [48](Ahlgrén-Rimpiläinen et al., 2013)Case/control
11 SCZ

Multiple CSPs were found predominantly in subjects with schizophrenia
A study of transcallosal inhibition in schizophrenia using transcranial magnetic stimulation [49]Fitzgerald, P B et al. 2002Case/control
25 SCZ
Transcallosal inhibition
Impairments in motor-cortical inhibitory networks across recent-onset and chronic schizophrenia: a cross-sectional TMS study [50](Strube et al., 2014)Case/control
41 recent-onset SCZ
42 chronic SCZ
SICI= and
CSP =
Deficient inhibitory cortical networks in antipsychotic-naive subjects at risk of developing first-episode psychosis and first-episode schizophrenia patients: a cross-sectional study. [51](Hasan et al., 2012)Case/control
18 SCZ
Intracortical
Short-latency intracortical inhibition =
CSP=
Diminished modulation of motor cortical reactivity during context-based action observation in schizophrenia [40](Bagewadi et al., 2019)Case/control
39 SCZ
SICI and ICF paradigms.
MNS-activity (% cortical reactivity facilitation)
Investigating cortical inhibition in first degree relatives and probands in schizophrenia [52](Radhu et al., 2017)Case/control
19 SCZ
49 control
Cortical inhibition=
Neural noise and cortical inhibition in schizophrenia [43](Carment et al., 2020)Case/control
25 SCZ
  cortical inhibition
Increased short-interval intracortical inhibition in un-medicated patients with schizophrenia [54](Schecklmann et al., 2018)Case/control
unmedicated SCZ

Medicated SCZ
SICI= in unmedicated SCHZ
RMT, active motor threshold, CSP, and intracortical
The relationship of the change in symptoms and cognitive functions with the change in cortical inhibition parameters measured by transcranial magnetic stimulation: an eight-week follow-up study [55](Yıldız et al., 2015)Case/control
13 SCZ
Intracortical facilitation (ICF) is weaker
Ipsilateral silent period (ISP) = and CI =
An investigation of motor function in schizophrenia using transcranial magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex [45]Puri, B K et al. 1996Case/control
9 SCZ
Latency of MEP, RMT and
Abnormalities in the evoked frontal oscillatory activity of first-episode psychosis: a TMS/EEG study [60](Ferrarelli et al., 2019)Case/control
16 SCZ (first episode psychosis)
EEG beta/low gamma range oscillations after TMS of M1
Decreased interhemispheric connectivity and increased cortical excitability in unmedicated schizophrenia: a prefrontal interleaved TMS fMRI study [61](Webler et al., 2020)Case/control
19 SCZ
Hyperexcitability in left BA9 and impaired interhemispheric functional connectivity compared to controls
Electrophysiological responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation in depression and schizophrenia [73]Abarbanel, J M et al.1996Case/control
10 SCZ
MT and MEP